a comparative study of accident risk factors in ... · † corresponding author a comparative study...

† Corresponding author

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ACCIDENT RISK FACTORS IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN INDONESIA

Yusuf Latief1

1Professor, Civil Departement Faculty of Engineering University of Indonesia, Depok, INDONESIA

Email : [email protected]

Akhmad Suraji2

Department or Division Name 2Lecturer, Civil Department Faculty of Engineering University of Andalas, Padang,

INDONESIA Email : [email protected]

Yulianto S., Nugroho3

2Professor, Mechanical Departement Faculty of Engineering University of Indonesia, Depok,INDONESIA


Rosmariani Arifuddin4† Department or Division Name

1Ph.D Student, Civil Department Faculty of Engineering University of Indonesia, Depok, INDONESIA


Abstract The construction industry is perceived to be one of more dangerous industries, which has a poor safety performance record globally. However, in developing countries, these difficulties and challenges present alongside a general situation of socio-economic stress, chronic resource shortages, institutional weaknesses and a general inability to deal with the key issues. There is also evidence that the problems have become greater in extent and severity in recent years. The objective of this paper is to report the results of a study conducted to analyze the risk level of a construction accident at a project. The study was carried out on the project undertaken by contractor company in Indonesia, consisting of 3 types of companies which are state-owned companies, private companies and foreign private companies. The risk level was assessed using a risk significance index based on the likelihood of occurrences and the impacts on accident. The research method includes direct observation and questionnaire survey to highrise building projects. Direct observation is an instrument to measure likelihood level of accident risk accurance, and questionnaire survey, for respondents’ perspectives gaining, is used to assess the consequence level of the accident at the project. The data were analyzed using Risk Matrix from AS/NZS 4360:2004 Risk Management Standard. The result shows that in construction projects in Indonesia, accident risks at state companies and private companies are higher than those at foreign private companies. Factors which are mostly included in high risk accident category such as “lack of safety equipment specifications”, poor working surfaces and platforms”, “low education level of workers”, “lack of organizational commitment”, and “Low/no safety resource”. The current study contributes to government of Indonesia in term of suggestion in evaluating safety program enforcement in highrise building construction projects. 2

Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Engineering, Project, and Production Management (EPPM 2013)

151

mailto:[email protected]




Keywords: Accident risk factors, construction project, contractor companies, Indonesia

1. INTRODUCTION

Statistic analysis in several countries concludes that risk of occupational accident in

construction industry is significantly higher if compared to the average of all sectors

(Kamardeen, 2009). The construction industries around the world offer substantial

employment opportunities and contribute significantly to national economic growth, but a the

sime time they have unacceptably high rates of injuries and fatalities (Zou 2009). In

developing countries, the number of accidents in construction industry is much worse (Koehn,

1995). Construction sites exhibit unique hazardous features, such as crowded sites, operating

at height and outdoors, unskilled labor and extensive use of heavy machines and equipment

(Kamardeen and Theo, 2007; Ismail and Chik, 2008; Zou, 2009; Hu and Ramandad, 2009;).

The impacts of occupational accident are significant, involving not only death and

workers’ decreased quality of life, but also delay in project, increased project cost, medical

expenses, and other negative consequences (Lipscomb et al., 2003). Financially,

occupational accident effects on direct costs that reach million dollars per year, while indirect

costs are estimated to be six times more than the direct costs (Gavious, et. al, 2009).

2. AN ACCIDENT CONSTRUCTION IN INDONESIA In Indonesia, safety program in construction project has not attained much attention from

all parties (Wirahadikusumah, 2005). Although for Indonesia’s better reputation at safety

field the Department of Labor and Transmigration of Indonesia has made policy to reduce the

accident rate to 50%, Indonesia is still recorded as a country with highest rate of accident. The

research of ILO (International Labor Organization) in 2009 reported that Indonesia was at 152

rank from 153 countries observed. It means that occupational accident is a bad problem in the

country (http://www.nakestran.go.id).

The number of the accident in Indonesia was the highest in ASEAN region. There were

almost 32% of the accident cases that occurred in construction sector involving all types of

work project such as construction of road, bridge, tunnel, and dam

(http://www.nakestran.go.id).

.


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Figure 1. Comparison of accident in construction industry and others

Based on the data of Jamsostek, there were 6,266 cases of accident that occurred in

construction industry in 2008-2010. Based on the data, the accident resulted in injury and

fatality. The causes varies such as trap, hit, etc.

Table 1. Types of Accident Cases in Construction Industry in 2008-2010

Year

Cases

Total Cured

Disable

Function

Partial

Disable

Total

Disable Fatality

2008 2,015 72 72 2 146 2,307

2009 1,787 59 77 3 143 2,069

2010 1,622 50 57 4 157 1,890

5,424 181 206 9 446 6,266

Source : PT. Jamsostek, 2011

3. RISK OF CONSTRUCTION OCCUPATION ACCIDENT Accident can be defined as unexpected, undesirable, and uncontrolled situation that can

result in lost to humans, property and the environment (Suraji, 2000).

In construction project context, the accident of construction project is an accident which

is related to work of workers working at construction projects; the accident includes accident

that occurs on the way to workplace from home or vice versa (PT. Jamsostek).

Occupational accident is caused by the low ar the lack of safety program (Rowlinson,

2003). According to Davies and Tomasin (1990), safety is a hazard risk free, including

physical injury and health damage risk for a period of time. Davies (1990) concluded that

work safety in civil engineering context is a way to maintain the safety of someone who is

building, operating, maintaining, devastate, and other technical works.

Hinze and Haslam in Kamardeen (2009), suggested occupational accident that frequently


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occurs in construction project involved some types of accidents defined into eight categories.

(i) Falling from height - involves workers falling from higher floors to lower floors/ground

level, and falling from ground level to excavation level

(ii) .Struck by falling object/ moving vihicles – primarily involves workers being struck by

equipment, private vehicles, falling materials,vertically hoisted materials and

horizontally transported materials,

(iii) Excavation-related accident – encompass cave-in, contact with underground utilities,

subsidence of nearby structures, falling of materials/vehicles/objects on to people

working in the excavation, fumes, gases, and inrushes of water at the bottom of

excavations.

(iv) Accident by operation of machinery/ tools – caused by toppling of machinery, collapse

of the parts of machinery, and unsuitable or unsafe hand-held tools.

(v) Electrocution – caused by contact with electric current from machines, appliances, light

fixtures, faulty electrical equipment and tools, and contact with overhead/underground

power lines.

(vi) Fire/ explosion – resulting from explosion of pressure vessels or gasoline pipes, and fire

due to welding/hot works

(vii) Failure of temporary structures – involves the failure or form works and scaffoldings

(viii) Others – e.g. slipping on the same level, oxygen deficiency in confined spaces,

lightning strike, etc.

Previously, a prior study on factors leading to occupational accident based on safety

perspective has been done. Tam et al. (2004) concluded the risk-prone activities on

construction sites, and highlighted factors effecting construction site safety. The study

concluded that the commitment of contractors to safety were of grave concern, including lack

of training, lack of certified skill labor, low education and lack of provision of personal

protection equipment. Zou and Zhang (2009) conducted comparative study on the perception

of construction safety risks in China and Australia. This study perception of safety risk factors

included five issues which are legal and regulatory issues, education and training related

issues, employee related issues, technical issues and organizational management related issues.

The study results revealed that the main perception of safety risks of construction industry in

China came from human and/or procedure related issues, with “low/no safety education”

paramount, followed by “inadequate fire prevention and electrical prevention procedures,” etc.

In contrast, the major safety risks perceived in Australia were related to the environment and

physical site conditions with “contamination of land, water and air” ranked first, followed by

“unforeseen excavation of soil,” etc. To minimize construction safety risks in China, this paper

suggested that the government should develop collective legislation and safety protection

procedures, and enforce safety education and training to all site participants. Risks related to


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environmental and site conditions were generally realized by the Australia construction

industry, which were not highly acknowledged in China. This may also bring imminent

attention in this regard to the Chinese government.

A contractor company, as the main executor of the construction project, is required to

enforce carry out the project safely. Based on the ownership, there are some kinds of

construction companies in Indonesia. They are:

Private companies are companies which capital is wholly owned by the private sectors

and there is no government intervention. There are three kinds of private company, there

are three kinds, namely :

Private company, a private company owned by the State Indonesia ;

Foreign private companies, a private company owned by foreign nationals, and

Mixed private company (joint-venture), a private company owned by the state Indonesia

and foreign nationals.

State companies are companies which capital is wholly owned by the State Indonesia.

4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY8

The research methodology selected for this risk investigation comprised a

comprehensive literature review, a survey to construction company, a statistical analysis of the

survey data, and exploration of safety risk management in Indonesia.

4.1 OBSERVATION SURVEY AND QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

The survey was conducted through observation and questionnaire. Observation is for

direct investigation to highrise building construction projects. There were ten projects carried

out by state-owned companies, ten projects by nationwide private companies, and 10 projects

by foreign private companies chosen randomly. The observation was conducted to get

level of likelihood of occurance accident risk factors. Whereas level of consequence was

obtained through questionnaire survey. The survey involved three to four safety employees of

each observed project sites. The survey was designed to assess the perspectives which

respondents held on various construction company accident risk factors in Indonesia. Through

literature reviews and understanding the problems, 21 questions reflecting accident risk

factors were identified and classified into five aspects: six questions related to human issues,

tree related to equipment issues, two related to organization issues, seven describing

management issues, and the last tree questions related to environmental related issues.


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4.2 DATA COLLECTION A total of 120 questionnaires were sent to thirty project / construction sites selected.

Respondents involved in the questionnaire are safety officers who work directly in the

construction project. The construction projects in this study consists of three (3) types of

companies are state-owned companies, private companies and foreign private companies.

Comparison of projects and companies are shown in the Table 2.

Table 2 Comparison of Project and Contractor Company

` State –owned

companies

Private

companies

Foreign private

companies

Project Construction 10 9 2

Contractor company 6 5 2

Each project involved 2-4 respondents who are safety employees consisting of safety

manager, safety officer, and safety inspection. From 102 responses received, 18 were invalid

due to reason such as being incomplete, damaged, inappropriate.

There were 35 responses of state-owned companies, 30 responses of private companies,

and 37 of foreign private companies.

Table 3 Comparison of Education Level of Respondents

Education Level ` State –owned

companies

Private

companies

Foreign private

companies

Master or above 2 (5.71 %) 1 (3.33 %) 8 (21.62 %)

Undergraduate 5 (14.29 %) 6 (20.00 %) 25 (67.57 %)

High school 19 (54.29 %) 22 (73.33 %) 4 (10.81 %)

Junior high school 8(22.86 %) 0(0 %) 0(0 %)

Primary school 1 (2.86 %) 1 (3.33 %) 0(0 %)

Total 35 (100 %) 30 (100 %) 37 (100%)

In addition to the information of education level, there were information of workers’ position

level and working experience obtained through questionnaires (Table 3).


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Table 4 Comparison of Position Level of Respondents

Position Level State

companies

Private

company

Foreign private

companies

Safety Manager 5 3 5

Safety Officer 23 6 16

Safety Inspection 7 21 16

Total 35 30 37

4.3 DATA ANALYSIS The survey includes three groups of data the likelihood of occurrence of each risk and its

level of consequences. The risk significant index developed by Zou and Zhang. (2009) was

used. The four-point scales for the likelihood α (very likely, likely, unlikely, and highly

unlikely) and the consequence (impact) β (fatality, major injury, minor injury, negligible

injury) were converted into numerical scales. The matrix presented in Table 2 shows the

converted numerical values and the calculation of the risk significance index.

Table 5. Construction Accident Risk Assessment Matrix

(Adapted from Zou and Zhang, 2009)

Consequence/ Impact

Likelihood

Very likely

(0.9) Likely (0.6)

Unlikely

(0.3)

Highly likely

(0.1)

Fatality (1.0) 0.90 (H) 0.60 (H) 0.30 (M) 0.10 (L)

Major injuries (0.7) 0.63 (H) 0.42 (M) 0.21 (M) 0.07 (L)

Minor injuries (0.3) 0.27 (M) 0.18 (M) 0.09 (L) 0.03 (L)

Negligible injuries (0.1) 0.09 (L) 0.06 (L) 0.03 (L) 0.01 (L)

Note H = high M = medium; and L = low

The significance score for each risk assessed by each respondent can be calculated

through Eq. (1), which is similar to the one developed by Zou and Zhang (2009)

ri j= (αijβij)/n (1)


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Where rij=significance score assessed by respondent j for the impact of risk i, i=ordinal

number of risk, i E (1 ,m); m=total number of risks; j=ordinal number of valid feedback to risk

i, j E (1 ,n); n=total number of valid feedbacks to risk i; aij =likelihood of occurrence of risk i,

assessed by respondent j; and I3ij=level of consequence of risk i, assessed by respondent j.

The average significance score for each risk can be calculated through Eq. (1). This

average score is called the risk significance index score and can be used to rank among all

risks where Ri k= significance index score for risk i.

It should be noted that the method for calculating the risk significance index score may

overlook the extreme risks with a very low level of likelihood of occurrence but a very high

level of consequence, which should be taken into account in the risk management practice.

The likelihood of occurrence was indicated by the values from the lowest figure of 0.1

(where the safety risk would be highly unlikely to happen), to 0.3 (unlikely), to 0.6 (likely), to

0.9 a (representing very likely to be the most critical risk level). The consequence of the

safety risks resulting in an injury was shown with similar but slightly adjusted figures, with

0.1 representing negligible injuries, 0.3 minor injuries, 0.7 major injuries, and 1.0 fatality. The

reason for the slight difference where death is represented by a whole figure is because of the

severity of the impact. According to AS/NZS 4360 (2004), the figures italicized in Table 3

represent high or major risk factors; the lowest value from the group of high risk factors is

0.27. Hence, only the safety risk factors with a significant index score of 0.27 and above are

discussed in the following

5. FINDING AND DISCUSSION The respondents’ education background is summarized in Table 3. It shows the

comparison of the level of education of the respondents in the three companies. It,

furthermore, shows that more 50 % of safety employees in construction company have

completed high school. The education level of foreign private companies is higher than of

state and nationwide private companies. Besides, respondents from foreign private companies

have more experience lengths in construction industry. They have an average of 12 years of

experience, while those from state and nationwide private companies have 7 years of

experience.

Table 5 shows the significant index score of construction accident risk factors in the

three companies.


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Table 6. Significant Index Score of Accident Risk Factors

Accident risk factors

Significant Index Score

Construction projects

undertaken

State

companies

Private

companies

Foreign

private

companies

Human/ Personal related issues

Lack of awareness of the use of PPE and methods 0.58 (H) 0.54 (H) 0.12 (L)

Low education level of workers 0.62 (H) 0.59 (H) 0.40 (M)

Excessive overtime work for labor 0.56 (H) 0.62 (H) 0.12 (L)

Lack the experience of workers 0.51 (H) 0.60 (H) 0.10 (L)

Poor safety conscientiousness of workers 0.43 (M) 0.42 (M) 0.32 (M)

Lack of health and physical characteristics of workers 0.32 (M) 0.28 (M) 0.22 (M)

Equipment related issues

Lack of safety equipment specifications 0.67 (H) 0.65 (H) 0.09 (L)

Lack of inspection and maintenance on equipment 0.56 (H) 0.50 (H) 0.09 (L)

Permit operation of the equipment 0.42 (M) 0.56 (H) 0.05 (L)

Organizational related issues

Lack of organizational commitment 0.61 (H) 0.54 (H) 0.18 (M)

Lack of strict regulatory penalties and rewards 0.53 (H) 0.54 (H) 0.23 (M)

Management related issues

Low/no safety training and education 0.52 (H) 0.54 (H) 0.02 (L)

Management Pressure 0.42 (M) 0.55 (H) 0.04 (L)

Low/no safety program and prosedure 0.41 (M) 0.42 (M) 0.14 (L)

Lack of strict operational procedures 0.35 (M) 0.39 (M) 0.14 (L)

Poor standards of safety contracts 0.29 (M) 0.42 (M) 0.16 (L)

Low/no safety resource 0,59 (H) 0,56 (H) 0,04 (L)

Less / no supervision and monitoring safety 0.43 (M) 0.56 (H) 0.08 (L)

Enviromental related issues

Poor working surfaces and platforms 0.66 (H) 0.45 (H) 0.11 (L)

Severe Weather 0.62 (H) 0.58 (H) 0.40 (M)

Lack of lighting systems 0.41 (M) 0.34 (M) 0.10 (L)


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Human related issues

The result from human related issues shows that human factors are aspects which need

more attention in term of construction occupational accident prevention. The factors are

significant for high risk accident. Of the factors issue, “low education level of workers,

particularly, is ranked as the highest risk followed “lack of awareness of the use of PPE and

methods”, “excessive overtime work for labor” and “lack the experience of workers” for

projects which were carried out by state companies and private companies. Meanwhile, for

projects carried out by foreign private companies, issues of human factors are entirely

categorized as medium risk accident and low risk accident.

Equipment related issues

Similar to human factors, the analysis of equipment factors shows that the factors are

significant for high risk accident at projects which were carried out by state companies and

private companies. The relevant issue of the factors such as “lack of safety equipment

specifications” remains high risk accident issue. Whereas, the equipment factors are

significant for low risk accident at projects which were held by foreign private companies.

Organizational related issues

The analysis shows that organizational factors are high risk accident in construction

projects by state companies and private companies. The relevant issue like “lack of

organizational commitment” at projects highly contributed to the accident risk at the projects

by the companies. The rank is followed by “lack of strict regulatory penalties and rewards”.

For projects of foreign private companies, organizational factor are considered medium risk

accident.

Management related issues

Compared to the other factors, management factors are considered relative lower risk

accident in construction projects. For projects carried out by state companies, “management

pressure” followed by “low/no safety training and education” issue is high risk accident. In

addition to the issues, “less / no supervision and monitoring safety” is high risk accident in

construction projects by private companies. Whereas, the factors are considered low risk

accident for projects which were carried out by foreign private companies.

Environment related issues

Environment factors are significantly high risk accident at projects of state companies

and private companies. The relevant issues involve “poor working surfaces and platforms”

and ‘Severe Weather”. For projects carried out by foreign private companies, whereas, the

factors are low risk accident.


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6. CONCLUSION Based on the analysis results, it is concluded that:

In construction projects in Indonesia, accident risks at state companies and private

companies are higher than those at foreign private companies. It suggests that the

projects which were carried out by state companies and private companies are high

risk accident.

Factors which are mostly included in high risk accident category, both at state-owned

companies and nationwide private companies, are equipment factors, followed by

environment factors, human factors, and organizational factors. Whereas, management

factors are considered medium risk accident. This reveals that the preceding factors

become the priority of occupational accident prevention efforts. Whereas, human

factors and organizational factors are medium risk accident, and environment factors,

equipment factors and management factors are low risk accident for foreign private

companies.

The issues need to get priority in accident prevention in Indonesia construction

projects include most of the factors such as “lack of safety equipment specifications”,

poor working surfaces and platforms”, “low education level of workers”, “lack of

organizational commitment”, and “Low/no safety resource”.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This research is part of Doctoral Program research which is supported by UI Research

Fund. Thanks to construction companies in Indonesia for their participation.

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